Response to Intervention Working With Defiant Kids: Communication Tools for Teachers Jim Wright

Response to Intervention

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Working With Defiant Kids: Communication Tools for Teachers

Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org


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‘Teacher’s Voice’: Behavior Management Strategies



Teacher Tips for Working With ‘Emotionally Unpredictable’ Students

While you can never predict what behaviors your students might bring into your classroom, you will usually achieve the best outcomes by:

• remaining calm• following pre-planned intervention strategies for

misbehavior, and • acting with consistency and fairness when intervening with

or disciplining students.



From the Trenches…Office Disciplinary Referral

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Disrespect toward teachers. Yelled at me while I was helping him with his assignment. Told him to cool down and sit in the center and he started up again. Finally, I asked him to leave. Have called home twice and spoke to grandmother about tardiness, attendance, and behavior.




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L. was sleeping in class. I told him twice to wake up and read along with class. He did so, albeit reluctantly. The third time he fell asleep I buzzed the office to tell them he was coming down, with a referral to follow. He cursed and threw his book in the ‘book box’.




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For some reason, R. wants to keep challenging me. Today he was being persistent that he wanted to sit on a table not in his chair. This was after I asked him to stop talking 4-5 times, that’s all. I sent him to the office again, second time.



Classroom Conflicts: Students can become caught up in power struggles with teachers because:

• they are embarrassed about (or try to hide) poor academic skills

• they enjoy ‘pushing the buttons’ of adults• they use misbehavior as a deliberate strategy to have

work expectations lightened



Classroom Conflicts: Teachers can become caught up in power struggles with students because:

• they do not realize that they are simply reacting to student provocation and are mirroring the student’s escalating behavior

• they may misinterpret innocent student behavior (e.g., laughing in class) as deliberate misbehavior and an attack on their authority



Defiant Kids: What should I keep in mind when working with defiant students?

The primary rule teachers should follow is to stay outwardly calm and to behave in a professional manner. The benefits of this approach are that:• Over time students may be less defiant because the

teacher no longer ‘rewards’ them by reacting angrily• Because the teacher deals with misbehavior impartially

and efficiently, she or he has more time left for instruction



Defiant Kids: How do I deliver a command without power struggles?

You can increase the odds that a student will follow a teacher command by:• Approaching the student privately, using a quiet voice.• establishing eye contact and calling the student by name

before giving the command.• stating the command as a positive (do) statement, rather than

a negative (don’t) statement. • phrasing the command clearly and simply so the student

knows exactly what he/she is expected to do.



Defiant Kids: Teacher Command Sequence: Extended Version

1. Make the request. Use simple, clear language that the student understands.

If possible, phrase the request as a positive (do) statement, rather than a negative (don’t) statement. (E.g., “John, please start your math assignment now.”) Wait a reasonable time for the student to comply (e.g., 5-20 seconds)



Defiant Kids: Teacher Command Sequence: Extended Version (Cont.)

2. [If the student fails to comply] Repeat the request as a 2-part choice. Give the student two clear choices with clear consequences. Order the choices so that the student hears negative consequence as the first choice and the teacher request as the second choice. (E.g., “John, you can use your free time at the end of the day to complete your math assignment or you can start the math assignment now and not lose your free time. It’s your choice.”) Give the student a reasonable time to comply (e.g., 5-20 seconds).




3. [Optional-If the student fails to comply] Offer a face-saving out. Say to the student, “Is there anything that I can say or do at this time to earn your cooperation?” (Thompson, 1993).




4. [If the student fails to comply] Impose the pre-selected negative consequence. As you impose the consequence, ignore student questions or complaints that appear intended to entangle you in a power struggle.



Defiant Kids: What other effective communication strategies can I use ?

1. Active listening.• “Let me be sure that I understand you correctly…”• “I want to summarize the points that you made, so

that I know that I heard you right…”• “So from your point of view, the situation looks like

this…”



2. I-centered statements.• “Zeke, I find it difficult to keep everybody’s attention

when there are other conversations going on in the classroom. That’s why I need you to open your book and focus on today’s lesson.”




3. Pairing criticism and praise.• Description of problem behavior: “Trina, you said disrespectful things

about other students during our class meeting this morning. You continued to do so even after I asked you to stop.”

• Appropriate behavioral alternative(s): “It’s OK to disagree with another person’s ideas. But you need to make sure that your comments do not insult or hurt the feelings of others.”

• Specific praise: “I am talking to you about this behavior because I know that you can do better. In fact, I have really come to value your classroom comments. You have great ideas and express yourself very well.”




Defiant Kids: What are some conflict ‘pitfalls’ that I should watch out for?

• Avoid a mismatch between your words and nonverbal signals.

• Take time to plan your response before reacting to provocative student behavior or remarks.

• Do not become entangled in a discussion or argument with a confrontational student

• Do not try to coerce or force the student to comply.



Defiant Kids: What are proactive steps to minimize conflict with students?

• Offer the student face-saving exit strategies. • Act in positive ways that are inconsistent with the

student’s expectations.• Select fair behavioral consequences in advance.• Avoid making task demands of students when they are

upset.



Defiant Kids: ActivityPair off & discuss what communication

tool(s) this teacher should use next…

• Teacher: Zeke, I find it difficult to keep everybody’s attention when there are other conversations going on in the classroom. That’s why I need you to open your book and focus on today’s lesson.

• Student: You always pick on me when I’m not doing anything wrong! You never say anything to the other kids because they’re a bunch of teacher’s pets! I hate this class!





Tailoring ‘Defiant Kids: Tools for Teachers’ to Your School: Checklist

How can you see yourself using these ideas (or some adaptation of them) with teachers in your school or district?

What are possible concerns or objections that teachers may have about any of these strategies?

What unintended side-effects might occur, and how would you deal with them?



‘Extinguishing the Blaze’: Avoiding Power Struggles and Helping Students to Keep Their Cool




‘Extinguishing the Blaze’: Selected Ideas…Allow the Student a 'Cool-Down' Break (Long, Morse, & Newman, 1980). Select a corner of the room (or area outside the classroom with adult supervision) where the target student can take a brief 'respite break' whenever he or she feels angry or upset. Be sure to make cool-down breaks available to all students in the classroom, to avoid singling out only those children with anger-control issues. Whenever a student becomes upset and defiant, offer to talk the situation over with that student once he or she has calmed down and then direct the student to the cool-down corner. (E.g., "Thomas, I want to talk with you about what is upsetting you, but first you need to calm down. Take five minutes in the cool-down corner and then come over to my desk so we can talk.")



‘Extinguishing the Blaze’: Selected Ideas…

Ask Open-Ended Questions (Lanceley, 2001). If a teacher who is faced with a confrontational student does not know what triggered that student’s defiant response, the instructor can ask neutral, open-ended questions to collect more information before responding. You can pose ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, and ‘how’ questions to more fully understand the problem situation and identify possible solutions. Some sample questions are "What do you think made you angry when you were talking with Billy?" and "Where were you when you realized that you had misplaced your science book?" One caution: Avoid asking ‘why"’questions (e.g., "Why did you get into that fight with Jerry?") because they can imply that you are blaming the student.




Emphasize the Positive in Teacher Requests (Braithwaite, 2001). When an instructor's request has a positive 'spin', that teacher is less likely to trigger a power struggle and more likely to gain student compliance. Whenever possible, avoid using negative phrasing (e.g., "If you don't return to your seat, I can’t help you with your assignment"). Instead, restate requests in positive terms (e.g., "I will be over to help you on the assignment just as soon as you return to your seat").




Give Problem Students Frequent Positive Attention (Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002). Teachers should make an effort to give positive attention or praise to problem students at least three times more frequently than they reprimand them. The teacher gives the student the attention or praise during moments when that student is acting appropriately--and keeps track of how frequently they give positive attention and reprimands to the student. This heavy dosing of positive attention and praise can greatly improve the teacher’s relationship with problem students.




Have the Student Participate in Creating a Behavior Plan (Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey, 1995). Students can feel a greater sense of ownership when they are invited to contribute to their behavior management plan. Students also tend to know better than anyone else what triggers will set off their problem behaviors and what strategies they find most effective in calming themselves and avoiding conflicts or other behavioral problems.




Keep Responses Calm, Brief, and Businesslike (Mayer, 2000; Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002). Because teacher sarcasm or lengthy negative reprimands can trigger defiant student behavior, instructors should respond to the student in a 'neutral', business-like, calm voice. Also, keep responses brief when addressing the non-compliant student. Short teacher responses give the defiant student less control over the interaction and can also prevent instructors from inadvertently 'rewarding' misbehaving students with lots of negative adult attention.




Listen Actively (Lanceley, 1999; Long, Morse, & Newman, 1980). The teacher demonstrates a sincere desire to understand a student’s concerns when he or she actively listens to and then summarizes those concerns--that is, summing up the crucial points of that concern (paraphrasing) in his or her own words. Examples of paraphrase comments include 'Let me be sure that I understand you correctly…', 'Are you telling me that…?', 'It sounds to me like these are your concerns:…' When teachers engage in 'active listening' by using paraphrasing, they demonstrate a respect for the student's point of view and can also improve their own understanding of the student's problem.



‘Extinguishing the Blaze’: Selected Ideas…Offer the Student a Face-Saving Out (Thompson & Jenkins, 1993). Try this face-saving de-escalation tactic: Ask the defiant student, "Is there anything that we can work out together so that you can stay in the classroom and be successful?" Such a statement treats the student with dignity, models negotiation as a positive means for resolving conflict, and demonstrates that the instructor wants to keep the student in the classroom.

NOTE: Be prepared for the possibility that the student will initially give a sarcastic or unrealistic response (e.g., "Yeah, you can leave me alone and stop trying to get me to do classwork!"). Ignore such attempts to hook you into a power struggle and simply repeat the question.



‘Extinguishing the Blaze’: Selected Ideas…Proactively Interrupt the Student’s Anger Early in the Escalation Cycle (Long, Morse, & Newman, 1980; Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey, 1995). The teacher may be able to ‘interrupt’ a student’s escalating behaviors by redirecting that student's attention or temporarily removing the student from the setting. For low-level defiant or non-compliant behaviors, you might try engaging the student in a high-interest activity such as playing play an educational computer game or acting as a classroom helper. Or you may want to briefly remove the student from the room ('antiseptic bounce') to calm the student. For example, you might send the student to the main office on an errand, with the expectation that-by the time the child returns to the classroom-he or she will have calmed down.




Relax Before Responding (Braithwaite, 2001). Educators can maintain self-control during a tense classroom situation by using a brief, simple stress-reduction technique before responding to a student’s provocative remark or behavior. When provoked, for example, take a deeper-than-normal breath and release it slowly, or mentally count to 10. As an added benefit, this strategy of conscious relaxation allows the educator an additional moment to think through an appropriate response--rather than simply reacting to the student's behavior.



Building Positive Relationships With Students




Avoiding the ‘Reprimand Trap’When working with students who display challenging behaviors, instructors can easily fall into the ‘reprimand trap’. In this sequence:

1. The student misbehaves.2. The teacher approaches the student to reprimand and

redirect. (But the teacher tends not to give the student attention for positive behaviors, such as paying attention and doing school work.)

3. As the misbehave-reprimand pattern becomes ingrained, both student and teacher experience a strained relationship and negative feelings.



Sample Ideas to Improve Relationships With Students: The Two-By-Ten Intervention (Mendler, 2000)

• Make a commitment to spend 2 minutes per day for 10 consecutive days in building a relationship with the student…by talking about topics of interest to the student.

Avoid discussing problems with the student’s behaviors or schoolwork during these times.

Source: Mendler, A. N. (2000). Motivating students who don’t care. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.



Sample Ideas to Improve Relationships With Students: The Three-to-One Intervention

(Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002)

• Give positive attention or praise to problem students at least three times more frequently than you reprimand them. Give the student the attention or praise during moments when that student is acting appropriately. Keep track of how frequently you give positive attention and reprimands to the student.

Source: Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.



Real-Life Scenario…

While you are in the middle

of teaching a lesson to the class, a student of yours begins to talk to a peer. You attempt to redirect her to task, saying: “Jeri, I need you to pay attention to the lesson.”

Jeri apparently ignores you and continues to talk. What do you do next?



Two boys in your class are clowning around in the corner of the room during independent seatwork The class is starting to focus on their horseplay. One of the boys, Larry, can fly off the handle when adults reprimand him.

How do you handle this?

Real-Life Scenario…



Behavior Contracts Jim Wright




Behavior Contracts: Some Advantages• Put responsibility for changing behavior on the student• Provide clear behavioral expectations (an element of Positive

Behavioral Interventions & Supports)• May exert a ‘reactivity’ effect on both teacher and student, as

both begin to attend more closely to the student’s behaviors• Offer an easy means of documenting student success (e.g.,

tally number of times each week that the student earned the reward)

• Are a means to provide contingencies and encourage student behaviors across settings (e.g., between school and home)



Sections of the Behavior Contract

1. A listing of student behaviors that are to be reduced or increased

2. A statement or section that explains the minimum conditions under which the student will earn a point, sticker, or other token for showing appropriate behaviors

3. The conditions under which the student will be able to redeem collected stickers, points, or other tokens to redeem for specific rewards

4. Bonus and penalty clauses (optional).5. Areas for signatures (teacher, student, and parent)



Sample Behavior Contract: Effective Dates: From 10/20/99 to 12/20/99

Mrs. Jones, the teacher, will give Ricky a sticker to put on his 'Classroom Hero' chart each time he does one of the following:

•turns in completed homework assignment on time •turns in morning seatwork assignments on time and completed •works quietly through the morning seatwork period (from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m.) without needing to be approached or redirected by the teacher for being off-task or distracting others

When Ricky has collected 12 stickers from Mrs. Jones, he may choose one of the following rewards:

•10 minutes of free time at the end of the day in the classroom •10 minutes of extra playground time (with Mr. Jenkins' class) •choice of a prize from the 'Surprise Prize Box'



Bonus: If Ricky has a perfect week (5 days, Monday through Friday) by earning all 3 possible stickers each day, he will be able to draw one additional prize from the 'Surprise Prize Box'.

Penalty: If Ricky has to be approached by the teacher more than 5 times during a morning period because he is showing distracting behavior, he will lose a chance to earn a 'Classroom Hero' sticker the following day.



The student, Ricky, helped to create this agreement. He understands and agrees to the terms of this behavior contract. Student Signature: ___________________________________

The teacher, Mrs. Jones, agrees to carry out her part of this agreement. Ricky will receive stickers when be fulfills his daily behavioral goals of completing homework and classwork, and will also be allowed to collect his reward when he has earned enough stickers for it. The teacher will also be sure that Ricky gets his bonus prize if he earns it.. Teacher Signature: ___________________________________

The parent(s) of Ricky agree to check over his homework assignments each evening to make sure that he completes them. They will also ask Ricky daily about his work completion and behavior at school. The parent(s) will provide Ricky with daily encouragement to achieve his behavior contract goals. In addition, the parent(s) will sign Ricky's 'Classroom Hero' chart each time that he brings it home with 12 stickers.Parent Signature: ___________________________________

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Response to Intervention Working With Defiant Kids: Communication Tools for Teachers Jim Wright